The 29-year-old musician plays regularly around town, typically on a solid-body electric Zeta violin that is cabled to an amplifier and a battery of effects pedals. Ever hear a violin run through a wah-wah pedal? Hughes is your man.

Hughes plays galas, clubs and outdoor venues such as the venerable Red Rocks Amphitheatre. A few million people saw him performing at the Grammy Awards 50th anniversary show, where he played alongside the Foo Fighters and John Paul Jones, the bassist for Led Zeppelin. And he’s at work on his second album.

Hughes grew up in Park Hill. His parents still live there, and he lives a few blocks away. He attended high school at Colorado Academy and studied music and violin performance at the University of Denver’s Lamont School of Music.

HIS HOME STUDIO

Hughes spends much of his day at his home studio, which occupies what for most homeowners would be the dining room in his house. He owns three violins, but the focal point is his NeKo Open Labs multimedia instrument, which features a full music studio to go, with 61 keys, external keyboard, 15-inch LCD touchscreen, state-of-the-art software, four terrabytes of space and a QWERTY keyboard.

“This thing does everything,” Hughes said on a recent afternoon. “It’ll create any sound, including drum tracks. If you have the software you can record an entire album on it. It’s really hard-core.”

Hughes picked up his violin. It’s made of an ebony-colored composite and bears only a passing resemblance to the traditional instrument. (He owns two of the latter.)

Running it through a Bugera tube amplifier, Hughes punched a button, setting karaoke tracks in motion for Adele’s “Rolling in the Deep” and Gnarls Barkley’s “Crazy.”

A. It’s an interesting story. When I was 3 I was watching “Sesame Street” and Itzhak Perlman was performing. I loved the way the violin sounded and looked in his hand. I started talking about it. My mom had seen little kids with violins at the Lamont School of Music and signed me up. That’s all she wrote.

Q. How many hours a day do you practice?

A. Oh, man. There are two kinds of practice: The slow, deliberate kind, where you’re trying to master something new. And the creative, improvisational type. Each day I do one hour of deliberate practice and two hours of the creative kind.

Q. What was your most memorable performance?

A. I’ve performed for Michelle Obama.

Q. Who is the finest musician you’ve ever witnessed?

A. Itzhak Perlman. I have a photo of me taken with him that I look at when I practice. I look at it and tell myself, “Come on, man!”

Q. Where did your nickname come from?

A. I had a violin teacher named Basil Vendryes. He used to call me Maestro. “Maestro, did you practice this week? Maestro, you sound good. Maestro, get out!”

Q. What is your greatest fear?

A. Not knowing. And being unaware of what’s going on and lacking knowledge. That frightens me.

Q. What is your favorite way of spending time?

A. To be honest, just working on music and in my studio, creating and learning.

Q. What historical figure do you admire?

A.Frederick Douglass (19th-century civil rights champion). He played the violin. I visited his estate years ago and it was there. I said, “I’m a violinist!” They let me hold it.

Q. Who is your favorite fictional hero?

A. I liked Tom Sawyer quite a bit. I loved how he got those kids to whitewash the fence.

Q. Who are your real-life heroes?

A. A big hero of mine is Michael Jackson. I always really connected emotionally to his music. And my parents are big-time heroes of mine.

Q. What is the one possession from your childhood that you wish you still had?

A. There’s this audiotape I had that I lost when I was 5. It was called “The Little Blue Brontosaurus.” I’d love to have that back. It had a lot of cool sounds, including a T-rex that made your hair stand on end.

Q. What is your most obvious characteristic?

A. That’s an interesting question. Clearly, my musical ability and love for playing the violin.

Q. What trait do you most deplore in others?

A. I think mainly people who feel entitled.

Q. What trait do you most dislike in yourself?

A. Procrastination.

Q. What is your greatest extravagance?

A. Studio equipment. I like to spend money on gear. But I don’t treat myself to a whole lot of stuff, though I like to eat out.

Q. What is your favorite journey?

A. I went to Nice in the south of France and it’s one of the most beautiful trips I’ve ever been on.

Q. What phrase do you most overuse?

A. I think maybe I use the word “like” too much. I hope I don’t do that but it’s possible. It’s easily done.

Q. What quality do you most admire in a person?

A. I always respect someone who has the ability to say “No” when they’re under pressure. To just tell it like it is and say “Yes” or “No” and keep your word.

Q. What do you most value in your friends?

A. The longevity of a relationship. A lot of my friends have been around a really long time. They know me intimately. My original crew, you know?

Q. How would you like to die?

A. In my sleep, listening to John Lennon or Jimi Hendrix. Just drift off and join those guys. It would be fascinating to be eaten by a shark, but that’s not how I’d want to go.

Q. Who has been the biggest influence on you?

A. You know, we’re all kind of a collage of everything we’ve seen and heard. And of course, my parents.

Q. Your motto?

A. Do it now.

William Porter: 303-954-1877, wporter@denverpost.com or twitter.com/williamporterdp

Restaurant critic William Porter is a feature writer at The Denver Post, where he covers food, culture and people. He joined the news outlet in 1997. Before that, he spent 14 years covering politics and popular culture at The Phoenix Gazette and Arizona Republic. He is a native of North Carolina.